a restorative dispensation; it bears a continual respect to a
state from which man is fallen, and is a provision for repairing
that ruin which the introduction of moral evil has brought upon
him. Exposed to the displeasure of God, and the curse of his law,
he stands in need of a Redeemer; disordered in his powers, and
criminally averse to his duty, he equally needs a Sanctifier. And it
is to men of every age and of every clime, as guilty and depraved
sinners, without paying any respect to the lighter degrees of their
depravity and guilt, that the gospel of Jesus Christ brings the glad
tidings of complete redemption; but if any reject it, through a
false conception that they do not require its renovating power or
its cleansing virtue, they are, in the language of the Scriptures,
emphatically denominated unbelievers, on whom the wrath of God
abideth continually."
The conversation was here interrupted by the entrance of the ladies,
who informed us that they had made a call at Fairmount, where they
had been highly gratified.--"Indeed," said Mrs. John Roscoe, "I must
confess that I was most agreeably disappointed. Mrs. Stevens is no
less accomplished than intelligent; and I was delighted with her
frank and cheerful disposition, and the elegant ease of her manners.
Instead of a demure lady, disgusted with the world, and absorbed
in the anticipations of a future state, she talked pleasantly of
men and things, as a contented and a happy resident amongst them.
I could perceive that religion was her favourite theme; yet there
was no gloom with it, nor overweening self-conceit. She appeared
almost like an angel pleading the cause of heaven, and that in such
language and with such feeling as I never before heard or witnessed.
She disengaged the religious principle from all its connections and
associations with human forms and ceremonials, and presented it in
its own native simplicity and purity; I could see that _it_ was to
her no less a source of felicity than a subject of contemplation and
discussion. She must be, indeed, a happy woman."
"It is generally supposed," said Miss Roscoe, "that the religious
principle, when it takes possession of the mind, pervading all its
powers, and regulating all its movements, necessarily becomes the
source of perpetual dejection and sorrow; but a more false notion
never obtained currency. True religion is not a source of misery,
but a perennial spring of contentment; the day-star of hope, the
rising and setting sun of human happiness."
"But you know, my dear," said Mrs. Roscoe, "that your religion
prohibits you from participating in many sources of amusement in
which you once took great delight; and as they are so innocent and
so agreeable, I cannot but think that in this respect it must be
painful to you to make the sacrifices which your religion requires
you to make."
"If, mamma, I looked back on my former sources of gratification
with a lingering eye, and still longed to participate in them, I
certainly should feel the restraining power to be painful; but _the
grace of God_, by renewing my mind, has entirely changed my taste;
and now the theatre, the ball, or the card-party, would be to me as
much a source of actual pain as they once were of ephemeral joy.
While sojourning in this vale of life, the enjoyment of fellowship
with my heavenly Father is more than a recompense for the loss of
those pleasures which I have abandoned."
On which Mr. Roscoe remarked: "If the revelation of mercy was
intended to promote our happiness, it certainly would fail in
accomplishing its design if it proved a source of misery."
"But," said Mrs. John Roscoe, "I have never yet conceived of
religion as being a source of _mental bliss_. I have felt it a duty
to be religious, but never a pleasure. I have read over my prayers,
but they never came from my heart. I have practised some of the
self-denying virtues of religion, but it has been more from a sense
of duty than from actual preference. I have sometimes thought of
going to heaven, but I have never derived any gratification from
anticipating it."
"O no," said Mrs. Roscoe, interrupting her, "neither have I."
"But," replied Mrs. John Roscoe, "one thing is certain, there is
some essential difference in the origin and the character of that
religion which is a source of real pleasure, and that which is
embraced from a mere sense of duty."
"Yes," said Mr. Roscoe, "the religion which is embraced from a mere
sense of duty, is the religion of forms and ceremonies; while the
religion which is the source of mental bliss, is the religion of
principle and of feeling. The one may be assumed or laid aside as
fancy or as convenience may dictate; but the other, taking up its
abode in the heart, liveth and abideth for ever. All false religions
take man as he is; they accommodate themselves to his errors and
his passions; they leave him essentially the same as they found
him; _they_ follow the man, they are formed after _his_ likeness:
whereas in genuine religion the _man_ changes--he is modelled
after the image of Jesus Christ. The gospel, instead of flattering,
tells him that in his present state he is incapable of performing
its duties or of relishing its joys; that he _must_ be transformed,
or he cannot enter into the kingdom of God; and what it requires
it produces; hence all is order and harmony. For everything in the
dispensation of the gospel and the constitution of the Christian
church is _new_; we have 'a _new_ covenant;' we 'approach God by a
_new_ and living way;' we 'sing a _new_ song;' we are called by a
_new_ name; according to his promise we look for '_new_ heavens and
a _new_ earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.' 'He that sitteth
upon the throne saith, Behold I create _all_ things _new_.' Can we
wonder then that we are required to 'put off the old man with his
deeds, and to put on the _new_ man;' 'to walk in _newness_ of life;'
'to serve him in the _newness_ of the spirit, and not in the oldness
of the letter?' that we are assured 'that neither circumcision
availeth anything, nor uncircumcision, but a _new_ creature;' '_that
if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature; old things are passed
away, behold, all things are become new_?'"
"I feel," said Mrs. John Roscoe, "under the impulse of strong
excitement. Some strange emotions--conflicting emotions--which
I know not how to embody in distinct and appropriate forms of
expression. I have been religious--scrupulously religious--and yet
my religious ideas have been vague and indefinite; my religion has
never engaged my affections. I felt charmed while listening to the
chaste eloquence of Mrs. Stevens, when speaking of the practical
influence of the love and grace of Christ on her soul; and your
correct distinctions between the religion of mere form and the
religion of principle, confound and subdue me; but I want two
things, which you, Sir, and Mrs. Stevens seem to possess--I want
a spirit to discern the distinction, and a heart to feel it. Yes,
there must be a mental change in me before I can see as you see, and
feel as you feel."
Her husband, interrupting her, exclaimed, "My dear, you must put a
curb on your imagination, or before you leave for the sober quietude
of home, you will become an evangelical enthusiast."
"To be candid; I am awe-struck by the new discoveries I am making,
or rather by the new visions of religious truth which are rising
before me. Indeed, I must have the religion of principle; that of
mere form has no life, no power; it throws out no attractions; it
touches not the heart to excite its affections; it does not bring me
into contact with a living Saviour; nor does it inspire me with a
hope full of immortality."
"My dear," said her husband, "you surprise me."
"You cannot feel more surprised than I feel myself. I feel on the
eve of some great crisis in my moral history, and yet I see nothing
distinctly, except the utter worthlessness of a religion of mere
form without a living principle."
We were all too much astonished by this sudden outburst of
impassioned feeling, to make any observations; at length Miss
Roscoe broke through the silence, which was felt to be painfully
oppressive, by saying, "I hope, my dear aunt, the Divine Spirit
is gently leading you into the way of peace and the paths of
righteousness, for his name's sake. What is now obscure will
soon become clear; wait patiently on the Lord until the day of
explanation dawn, and then the day-star of hope will arise in your
heart."
THE EVIDENCES OF SPIRITUAL REGENERATION.
On returning from a walk in the garden, the Rev. Mr. Roscoe said to
his brother, "I have just been having a talk with your gardener, and
I think you have got one of the most industrious and intelligent
workmen I have ever met with; he both understands how to cultivate
his garden and how to cultivate his mind."
_Mr. Roscoe._--"Yes, Robert is a very good and a very clever
servant; he respects the apostolic injunction, and renders
obedience, not with eye-service, as a man-pleaser, but as a servant
of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart. He is conscientious
and intelligent; and I believe that he would neither waste my time
by indolence, nor my property by negligence or extravagance."
_Rev. Mr. Roscoe._--"A good servant is very valuable; but, like
most other valuable things, he is very rare. Your gardener seems
much attached to you, and says he hopes to die in your service.
From the style of his conversation, and the extent of his general
information, I should suppose he has had a superior education, and
that he must have seen better days."
_Mr. Roscoe._--"No; he never occupied a higher rank in life than
he does at present. His father, who is still living in one of my
cottages in the village, is a very worthy man, who has brought
up a large family, and he often boasts of having done it without
receiving any assistance from the parish. He is a fine specimen
of the true English character in its primitive state. About three
years since he was very ill; and as we knew that his resources were
scanty, we voted him twenty shillings at a vestry meeting, which
the overseer was requested to give to him. But when the money was
presented he said, 'I am much obliged to you, Sir, and to the other
gentlemen, for your kindness, but I will never eat bread that's
bought with parish money; no, Sir, I won't disgrace my family in my
old age.'"
_Rev. Mr. Roscoe._--"That is a noble spirit! If such a spirit were
generally diffused among our labouring population, there would be
more virtue and more happiness in the country. I am not surprised
that you have such a servant, now I find that he has such a father.
Is the old man evangelical in his principles?"
_Mr. Roscoe._--"Yes, and in his practice; but he was not able to
infuse his principles into his son, who for many years evinced
strong antipathies against his father's piety. He inherited his
honesty, and industry, and high independent spirit; but he was very
profane, which was a source of great distress to the good old man."
_Rev. Mr. Roscoe._--"But I should hope that he is not so now, for I
was led to infer, from some expressions which he used, that he was a
very virtuous man."
_Mr. Roscoe._--"Yes, he is virtuous, and more than virtuous--he
is now decidedly pious. He is a living witness of the doctrine of
regeneration; and if you go and ask him what it is, he will tell you
that _it is an internal change in the dispositions and propensities
of the mind, produced, not by the application of water in baptism,
but by the renewing power of the Divine Spirit_."
_Rev. Mr. Roscoe._--"I did not think that talking of the old man and
his son would lead us to the subject of our late discussion; but as
it has come up again, let me ask you one question--If regeneration
do not take place at the time of our baptism, when does it take
place, and how will it be possible for us to decide whether we have
been regenerated or not?"
_Mr. Roscoe._--"If it invariably take place at the time of baptism,
according to the popular construction of our prayer-book, and the
current belief of the Tractarian members of our church, nothing more
would be necessary to convince us that we are the children of God
than an attested copy of our baptismal register, which I presume, on
reflection, you will deem too preposterous and too hazardous to be
admitted."
_Rev. Mr. Roscoe._--"But admitting, for the sake of the argument,
that baptism is regeneration, where would be the hazard of letting
our assurance of it depend on an attested copy of our parish
register?"
_Mr. Roscoe._--"Why, suppose such an attested copy could not
be obtained, then we could have no substantial proof of our
regeneration. We may be the children of God, and we may be
inheritors of the kingdom of heaven; but if the officiating minister
neglect to record the fact of our baptism, or if the register-book
should be lost or burnt, it will be impossible for us to prove it,
even though the Spirit itself bear witness with our spirit that we
are the children of God. To what a dilemma, then, may a son of God
be reduced! He may be in the possession of every moral evidence
of his filial relation to his heavenly Father--he may love him,
fear him, and glorify him; he may have put off the old man, which
is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; and may have put on
the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true
holiness: but not being able to establish the fact of his baptism
by the production of a genuine copy of its insertion in the parish
register, he is not able to prove the fact of his regeneration. 'A
situation this of doubt, suspense, and anxiety, with regard to our
eternal welfare, to which it is reasonable to believe that, with
such a revelation of his will as Christianity professes to be, the
Father of mercies and God of all comfort would not expose his humble
creatures.'"[13]
[13] Dr. Mant.
_Rev. Mr. Roscoe._--"I am satisfied that it does not invariably
nor necessarily take place at baptism; but then, when does it take
place?"
_Mr. Roscoe._--"It does not uniformly take place at any particular
age, but precisely at that period in the life of man which the
Spirit of God determines. Some, I have no doubt, are regenerated
by the Holy Spirit in the days of infancy, and grow up into life
under the influence of the holy principles which were implanted
in their soul when they had no consciousness of it. I have a book
at hand, from which I will read you a passage that is quite to
the point:--'God has wisely given to the female sex a peculiar
tenderness of address, and an easy and insinuating manner, which is
admirably adapted to the great end for which he intended it, that of
conveying knowledge to children, and making tender impressions on
their minds; and there is hardly any view in which the importance of
the sex more evidently appears.'
"It seems to me that children may early come to have some
apprehensions of what is most important in religion. They may have a
reverence for God, and a love for him, as that great Father who made
them, and that kind friend who gives them everything that they have;
and they may have a fear of doing anything that would displease him.
And though it is not so easy for them to understand the doctrines
peculiar to a Redeemer, yet when they hear of Christ as the _Son of
God, who came down from heaven_ to teach men and children the way
thither, and who died to deliver them from death and hell, their
little hearts may well be impressed with such thoughts as these,
and they may find a growing desire to be instructed in _what Christ
is_ and _what he taught and did_, and also to do what shall appear
to be his will. And wherever this is the prevailing disposition,
it seems to me that the seeds of holiness are sown in that soul,
though but small proficiency may be made in knowledge, and though
the capacities for service may be very low. But the tendency to that
which is evil and the aversion to that which is good, which children
generally discover, is a decisive proof that very few are renewed at
this early period. They often outgrow their religious impressions,
yield to the force of temptations, and allow themselves to be
drawn aside from the path of duty by the attractive charms which a
deceitful world holds out to allure and destroy. But, while glowing
with health and devoting themselves to the pleasures and amusements
of this life, it often pleases God to arrest them in their career
of folly as they are entering on the age of manhood, or during the
first few years of it, and then they yield themselves unto God as
those that are alive from the dead.
"'Some,' to quote from the same author, 'are wrought upon by Divine
grace in the _advance and even in the decline of life_. There are
but few who arrive at what may be called old age, and of them but
very few who, at that period, feel the great change; nor shall we be
much surprised at this if we consider the inveterate nature of bad
habits, which renders it almost as hard for them that are accustomed
to do evil to learn to do good, as it is for the Ethiopian to change
his skin, or the leopard his spots.'"
_Rev. Mr. Roscoe._--"But one should imagine that the more our reason
is improved, and the nearer we get to another world, the more
solemnly and deeply the heart would be affected by the great and
awful truths of religion. You never thought so much nor so deeply
on religious subjects when you were young as you do now; and,
therefore, I wonder you agree with your author in supposing this to
be a very unfavourable period to be regenerated."
_Mr. Roscoe._--"Very true; but I cannot see one of my own age in
the whole circle of my acquaintance, who has been impressed in a
similar manner to myself. 'It is in vain to reason against facts,'
says a judicious writer, 'and experience proves that it is an
_uncommon thing_ for persons to be awakened and reformed in old
age; _especially if they_ have been educated in the principles of
religion. Nevertheless, to prove the infinite energy and sovereignty
of Divine grace, God is sometimes pleased to renew even such: He
touches the rock which has stood for ages unmoved, and the waters
flow forth; He says to the dry bones--live, and they are animated
with life; and then, with the vigour of a renewed youth, they devote
themselves to God.'"
_Rev. Mr. Roscoe._--"Then you think that this great change in the
human heart may take place at any period of life, though you think
that the season of youth or early manhood is the most favourable."
_Mr. Roscoe._--"I do."
_Rev. Mr. Roscoe._--"Will you now tell me by what sort of evidence a
person who is actually regenerated acquires a satisfactory knowledge
of the fact?"
_Mr. Roscoe._--"The apostle says, 'Therefore, if any man be in
Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold,
all things are become new.' When an immoral man undergoes this
internal renovation, there will be such a change in his habits and
in his conversation that it will be conspicuous to all who know
him. The swearer will fear an oath--the drunkard will put from him
the intoxicating cup--the Sabbath-breaker will keep holy the day
of rest--the impure, who have been as a walking pestilence in the
social world, will become chaste--and those who have displayed the
more malignant and ferocious passions, will distinguish themselves
by their meekness, gentleness, and humility."
_Rev. Mr. Roscoe._--"But may not this reformation take place in the
character of the more dissolute, without any change being effected
in the dispositions and propensities of their hearts?"
_Mr. Rosco._--"Yes; the influence of persuasion, of example, of
self-interest, and of mortified pride--the decay of the vigour of
the animal passions, and a fearful apprehension of future judgment,
will sometimes operate a most surprising reformation in some of the
more licentious; but when it proceeds from any of these causes, if
they do not relapse into their former course of evil, they become
satisfied with a mere scantling of exterior morality--evincing, at
the same time, the utmost degree of aversion to the things of the
Spirit of God. But when this reformation in the character proceeds
from the renovation of the heart, it resembles the shining light,
which shines clearer and brighter until the perfect day; those who
undergo it become decidedly pious, and usually engage in the holy
exercises of religion with a high degree of animation and delight.
They will speak in the most exalted terms of the Redeemer--of the
greatness of his love, and of the sovereignty of his grace; they
will discover the most intense concern for the spiritual welfare
of others in whom sin is reigning unto death; and while they will
often look back with astonishment on the scenes of danger from which
they have been delivered, they will boldly and cheerfully devote
themselves to the service of Christ, notwithstanding the opposition
or the persecution they may have to encounter. I remember, when my
gardener, Robert, felt the great change, he became all at once so
anxious to go and hear Mr. Ingleby preach, so much attached to his
Bible, so zealous for the conversion of his fellow-servants, and so
fond of conversing on the essential doctrines of the gospel, that I
thought at the time he would lose his senses; but now I can easily
account for it all; and though some lighter shades of imperfection
still rest on his character, yet he holds fast his integrity, and is
a living witness of the efficacy of the gospel, which is the power
of God unto salvation to every one that believeth."
_Rev. Mr. Roscoe._--"If I mistake not, you have asserted that
this renovation of the heart is as necessary for a moral person,
whose character is adorned with many social virtues, as for one
who is openly profane. Now, if we admit this to be correct, what
perceptible change can take place in his conduct when he is renewed,
and by what evidences can _he_ be convinced of it?"
_Mr. Roscoe._--"There will not be that visible transition, in his
case, from a state of depravity to a state of purity; but the moral
man, when regenerated, will become a _pious man_. He will discover
the same anxiety on the question of his personal salvation--the
same attachment to the Bible--the same zeal for the conversion
of others--the same disposition to converse on the essential
doctrines of the gospel, as the regenerated immoral man; and he will
ascribe this change to the same supernatural cause; and, by the
avowal of his sentiments and by his decision, he will provoke the
same expression of scorn and contempt from the men of the world.
There will be a striking similarity between his character and his
religious habits after his regeneration, and the character and
religious habits of one who was previously an immoral man, but who
has _been renewed in the spirit of his mind_; and they will both be
in possession of more satisfactory evidences of their regeneration
than any exterior change which their character and their life may
supply."
_Rev. Mr. Roscoe._--"What are those _other_ evidences of
regeneration to which you now refer?"
Mrs. John Roscoe now became much excited. "Yes," she said, "that's
the important question I want explained. I have been living many
years under a most fatal delusion, for though baptized, I am not
regenerated; nor do I as yet know what regeneration is. Be very
simple and plain in your explanation." She now sat looking and
listening with a fixed intensity of anxious earnestness, reminding
me of the appearance of a defendant whom I once watched in a crowded
court, during the prolonged consultation of the jury, whose verdict
was to secure to him the possession of his rich inheritance, or
reduce him to comparative pauperism.
_Mr. Roscoe._--"A person who is regenerated will be introduced
as into a new world; the transition from his former to his new
moral condition, whether it takes place suddenly, or by a gradual
process, will be so clear to his mind that he cannot doubt it; he
will form new and more accurate perceptions of the character of
God--of his own character--of the visible and invisible world--and
of the official character of Jesus Christ; he will feel the force of
obligations pressing upon him, of which he had previously formed no
conception, and he will discover sources of enjoyment of a new and a
more refined order."
_Rev. Mr. Roscoe._--"I fear you are now taking me into an imaginary
region, where we shall be both lost amidst the obscurities of a
fanatical and enthusiastic belief."